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Several Northeast Ohio mayors among Ohio group supporting gay marriage

Gay marriage.JPG

Gay rights advocate Vin Testa waves a rainbow flag in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2013. Eighteen Ohio mayors have signed onto a national effort supporting same-sex marriage.
(The Associated Press)

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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- More than half of Ohio mayors who have signed a national pledge to support gay marriage hail from Northeast Ohio.

Nearly 500 mayors from 44 states and Washington, D.C., signed onto the Mayors for Marriage statement sponsored by national organization Freedom to Marry.

The statement the mayors support says same-sex marriage helps cities to build a good economic environment and place for families to live.

"Our cities derive great strength from their diversity, and gay and lesbian families are a crucial part," the statement says. "Studies have shown what we know through our hands-on experience — that cities that celebrate and cultivate diversity are the places where creativity and ideas thrive. They are the places where today's entrepreneurs are most likely to choose to build the businesses of tomorrow."

The new list of Ohio mayors is longer than a 2012 list compiled by Equality Ohio. Mayors of six cities were on that list: Akron, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Cleveland Heights, Lima and Stow. All were also represented on the Freedom to Marry list.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors, a nonpartisan organization representing cities with populations greater than 30,000, endorsed same-sex marriage in 2009.

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